The after hours
by TheRealRogue
Summary: ROMY.We don't remember most of the things that happen in our minds while we sleep. But what if what happens in Rogue's dreams, is Remy? How did he get there? Will she remember him when she's awake?Will he ever become real?What does reality mean,anyway?
1. Chapter 1: The sleep walker

Disclaimer: Don't own them!

Chapter 1: The sleep walker.

_"…Deep into the darkness peering, long I stood there, wondering, fearing, _

_doubting, dreaming dreams no mortal ever dared to dream before…"_

_Edgar Allan Poe, The Raven. _

Scott's team was loosing 5 to 3 against Jean's. It was only the fourth inning, but the game seemed to have dragged on an on for too long now. Hours, maybe? Rogue wasn't sure, but then that was normal; it was always hard to tell. Could it be noon already? Probably, considering how bright the sky was and how intensely the sunlight hit her cheeks, forcing her to narrow her eyes a little as she watched the guys play.

Bobby was leaving a trail of frost on the lawn as he ran to first base, causing Kitty to shriek in annoyance as she reminded everyone, for the hundredth time, that they weren't allowed to use their powers during the game.

"But it's just ice, Kit!" he shrugged, stepping a foot on the base.

"Yeah, but anyway…!" she replied, as other two or three voices rose against Iceman too.

"But I didn't do anything!"

"No powers means _no_ powers!"

"It's already melted anyway…!"

They always did that: arguing about any little thing and then making up two minutes later, but hey, at least that kept them busy. So Rogue rolled her eyes and looked away, some strands of her hair stubbornly deciding to remain over her face, no matter how many times she brushed them away. The wooden swing went back and forth slightly, slowly, driven by her feet that never left the ground and her gloved hands attached to the rough ropes. There was a small pond nearby, with white ducks and everything, and the mansion was there, behind the trees that formed a little forest. She was about to stand up and go somewhere, maybe pick up a soda, when something caught her eye, or the corner of it. For a second she stopped swinging, but then hurried up to keep on doing it, her eyes focused again on the baseball game. On Jean pitching the ball to Tabitha, who couldn't even get the bat close to it, and Kurt laughing and mocking at her, as the tall figure kept approaching to Rogue. She'd forgotten someone would show up today, so he caught her a little bit off guard, but not for too long. She could handle him, just as she'd handled the rest of them; it wasn't scary at this point of her life, more just like… bizarre, if that means anything. Like receiving an unexpected guest at home every once in a while; thing is, none of them ever left.

It was Jubilee's turn to bat when the new guy on the block sat on a bench near Rogue, so she had no other choice but to turn to see him: he lightened on a cigarette and then casually rested his right arm on the bench's back:

"So, dis what y'all do for fun 'round here?"

She had a few seconds to freely observe his features, as his eyes laid on the people playing baseball; they didn't surprise her at all, his eyes, but it was still incredible how such… unique pupils could match so perfectly with the face that surrounded them.

"That's one of the things they do, yeah."

"An' what do y' do?" he said, finally staring at her.

"Well…" she sighed before continuing: "Let's just say ah don't generally have a blast 'round here."

"_Pourquoi ça_?" he breathed in his cigarette deeply.

"Why? 'Cause…" she was about to start explaining, but technically, she didn't even know him, so why should she? "Who the heck are yah anyway?"

"_Moi_? Y' sure know who I am, don't y'? I'm de one dat should be askin' explanations, _hein_?"

Technically… yes, she knew who he was. But she didn't_ know_ him, which was different. So she took just a little more impulse in the swing and then let herself go:

"Yeah, ah guess."

There was this huge fuss in the baseball field, caused by a home run that got lost in the forest, or even further away: Colossus merrily jogged base to base, as some people cheered him up and others booed him.

"But hey, let's not start with de wrong foot, _oui_?" he extended his hand to Rogue: "I'm Remy."

She stopped the swing's come-and-go, firmly resting her feet back on the ground:

"Rogue."

He was about to kiss the back of her hand, but she managed to pull it back on time, brows raised and her lips half open, as she was about to say something, but didn't know exactly what, and all she had left was the hint of a smile.

"Rogue, eh?" he chuckled, taking a quick up and down glimpse at her: "Dat probably one of de best names I've ever heard."

"An' why is that? How do yah know if a name's better than another one? It's ridiculous." She fixated her eyes on a ball that fell on the lawn close to her, and that Amara came to pick up immediately. It was a fault.

"_Non_, see, names generally be syllables put together without meanin'_, tu sais_?"

"Like _Remy_?"

"Dat's my point" he conceded, like he was giving some transcendental philosophical lecture: "But yours actually mean somethin' interestin'. Somethin' dat fits y'."

"An' what 'bout yah? Don't yah have any interestin' name?"

They held each other's gazes for a few moments, like it was a little inexplicit war where each of them was the good and the bad guy at the same time.

"Y' know de answer t' dat, _chere_."

Rogue involuntarily shook her head when hearing this:

"How did yah just call me?"

"I just called y' "chere"… _chere_" he exhaled some smoke with this last word.

"Yah can't call me that."

"But I just did, _chere_. See? Once again. Can't help it. But if y' like _cherie_ better…"

"Mah name's Rogue, all right?"

"I know dat, _chere_" he winked, and pretended to watch the game again, giving and end to the whole names' deal.

"We're not gonna be gettin' along this way, yah know?"

"Oh, I think we are, _cherie._ Trust me."

She hated to admit it, but something in her gut told her he was right.

"Why don't yah go an' play with 'em, eh?" she suggested all of a sudden, trying to brush those thoughts away.

"Eh, not exactly my idea of fun" he shrugged.

"An' what's your idea of fun?" she asked, but regretted it immediately when seeing the impish smirk that appeared on his face.

"Well…" he leaned over a little, like he was about to tell her a secret: "Why don't y' an' I go for a walk, t' begin with?"

"To begin with?" Rogue echoed, raising her brows.

"Y' owe me dat, _chere_. A little tour on the place, at least."

The game was now 5 to 5. Not like she cared, of course. So, why not?

"All right, but I warn yah: there ain't too much to see 'round here" she stood up and began to walk. Remy threw the cigarette's end to the ground, turned it off with the sole of his shoe and followed her.

They walked out of the park, down a street of what seemed to be a calmed suburb.

"Okay, so this is a street, an' that's a car… an' those are houses, over there. Yah like 'em?"

"Impressive, I must say" he nodded, following her little game.

"An'… oh, those are Storm an' Kitty" she pointed out at the woman and the girl walking down the opposite sidewalk, who waved back at her. It was fun to see the puzzled look on his face:

"But de _petite_ one, wasn't she…?"

"Yeah. She was" Rogue said matter of factly, her chin a little bit up.

"Now dat's impressive" he recognized, running his hand through his hair.

"Yah'll get used to it."

"Remy can get used t' pretty much anythin', 'cept starbin'. Y' wouldn't have some nice place where we can grab a meal?"

"Well…" she was kinda hungry too: "If yah wanna eat, yah go to the mansion. The Institute, yah know?"

"Everyone goes dere?"

"Not everyone, ah mean, my family, the X-Men."

"An' everyone else? Remy ain't exactly an X-Men, _tu sais_?"

She had wondered the same thing too, many times.

"Yeah, well, ah don't know, ah've never seen a restaurant or anythin'."

"Hmmm…" Remy frowned, looking for another cigarette inside one of his trench coat's pocket: "Now dat gonna be a problem."

"Hey, what's with that?"

"With what?"

"This" she took the cigarette away from his lips and threw it to the ground.

"Hey! Come on, _cherie_, it was a new one."

"Yah can't smoke in here." It's not like it bothered her, that he smoked. She just didn't know yet that she was starting to enjoy teasing him.

"Why not?" Remy asked.

"'Cause…" she looked at the sky and then back at him: "'Cause ah say so, 'kay?"

"Ah! Y' say so?"

"Yeah! Yah know, ah… kinda rule here, an' if ah don't want yah to smoke, then yah don't."

He smirked in disbelieve: "_Alors_, lemme see if I get it: y' rule here, but we don't even get a little café or somewhere we can eat somethin'?"

She stopped in his tracks and stared at him: "Exactly… ah guess."

"Why?" he insisted.

"Ah don't know Remy, how'm ah supossed to know? Ah didn't choose to be here."

"Me neither." She opened her mouth to speak, but he continued: "What would y' like t' eat?"

Where did he want to go with this?

"Ah don't know… anythin'."

"_Allons chere_, don't be lazy. Focus a little bit, _oui_?"

Rogue placed her hands on her hips, sighed and looked around: there was nothing but houses, houses and more fancy houses all along the street that got lost far away.

She couldn't avoid smiling a little when she said it: "Cotton candy."

He nodded and then looked over her shoulder:

"What are de odds?"

Before she could do anything about it, he held her left hand and led her back on their tracks.

"What…?" she couldn't say anything else, when she saw where they were heading to.

"Cotton candy! Get your cotton candy! Only 2 dollarz each!" No other than Kurt was standing there, wearing a white cap and a white outfit, holding several cotton candies in each three fingered hand.

"Schwester!" Nightcrawler greeted: "It'z only one buck each, for you."

Remy paid for the candies, Kurt was giving him the change back, as Rogue watched open mouthed all of it. It made no sense…

"Not exactly what I had on mind," the Cajun handed her one cotton candy: "But it's 'kay, t' begin with."

"How… how did yah do that?" she grabbed the candy with the tip of her fingers, like she was scared of it.

"_Moi_? I didn't do anythin', _chere_. Y' did."

(***)

When it starts, it's hard to tell what is it, like it has no shape, like you can't even tell what kind of sensation it causes you. You just know it's annoying. And it's getting louder. And you start to move randomly, like a fish that's just been taken out of the water's safety.

"That damned… song from hell" Rogue groaned, searching for her cell phone on the floor besides her bed, until she finally grasped it and pressed whatever button for it to cut it out at once. Then she let herself fall backwards again, sighing.

"Hey, get up already, I mean, seriously" Kitty sprang out of the bathroom, already dressed up and fixing her pony tail.

Like getting up early was the first thing Rogue wanted to do after a day of missions, rescues, saving the world and the likes.

"People who finished high school don't have to wake up at… six?" she replied, stretching.

"Keep rubbing it in my face! And it's like seven already." After picking up her things, the younger girl stormed out of the bedroom, leaving Rogue alone face to face with the thing that had been stuck in her brain lately: yes, she finished high school almost a year ago; and now what? What would she do with her life? Was there anything she could do at all? At least the school gave her a purpose: getting up early, going to class, doing homework. But now what? Was her goal… her duty, being an X-Men forever? And if not, until when?

Not like she could solve all of it this morning, of course.

A while later, when she reached the kitchen, the place was still crowded with people trying to make their ways through breakfast. So she glimpsed down at herself for a second, as a reflex, just to make sure no one would accidentally get knocked out by a touch of hers.

"All right, who ate my Froot Loops, ha?" Tabitha seemed furious, holding the empty box in her hands.

"Jamie" Jean sighed: "You know only one of you should eat, right? Otherwise you eat for four, it's absurd."

The four boys shrugged at the same time and then became only one Jamie again, thing Sam could take advantage of, as he took the three unfinished sandwiches the boy… or boys, had left.

"What are you doing?!" Rogue heard Kitty's squeal behind her back: "You know I hate juice when it's like, totally frozen! Now I can't drink it!"

"But it's just ice, Kit!" Bobby shrugged, staring at the little ice cubes floating in the orange liquid.

"Yeah, but anyway…! Gee!"

Rogue frowned and stayed looking into empty space for about two, three, four seconds…

"Oh mah Gawd. Déjà vu."

Note: hi! I'm so happy to be back with another fic. I had this terrible writer's block that lasted probably centuries, but then I was watching on the TV the trailer of a movie named "The Science of Sleep", and the girl said something like "But I'll be awake when you get back" and boom!! That was the trigger that initiated this story in my head. Haven't seen the movie yet, but I'd like to rent it.

I hope everyone noticed the first part of this chapter is happening in her head as she dreamed at night. I'm not sure if it's completely clear, is it? I didn't want to write it all in italics 'cause it felt like it was too much text in italics, so, how should I separate the dreams parts from the reality parts? I'm not sure yet, if anyone has any idea, it'll be appreciated.

What did you like, what didn't you like of this fic? Any question? Then please drop me a review! They make me happy.


	2. Chapter 2: The new guy

Disclaimer: Don't own them!

Note: Hi! So I made up my mind: _italics_ are gonna be for Rogue's dreams, okay? The rest is reality. All right, here we go.

Chapter 2: The new guy.

_"Our truest life is when we are in dreams awake." Henry David Thoreau. _

This moment had happened so many times before: all of them bunched together, standing in front of the Black Bird's closed door, waiting for it to slide open, getting ready to jump out and kick some butt while trying to keep themselves alive at the same time. It wasn't anything new, but yet, Rogue's heart always started to beat faster and damn she had reasons for it: she couldn't shoot energy beams, move objects with her mind or have a ray instantly frying her opponent with a snap of her fingers. She used to punch guys that were bigger than her, then quickly sneaked away from their grasp, playing little traps on them and tripping them, and that was okay; but there was always a moment when things got uglier, and the only choice left was the one she liked the least: sometimes she had to actually use her power and unlike the rest of the guys, this power hurt her more than it helped her.

"Everybody, remember:" Storm spoke as the door started to open: "We are not here to harm anybody."

"Speak for yourself, 'Ro" was the answer she got from Logan, as he pulled his claws out and jumped off the place. Scott, Jean, Colossus, Kitty and Storm followed him, while Kurt vanished in a cloud of bluish smoke.

Standing alone inside the metal box, Rogue took a look at her hands gloved in black leather and she prayed they could just stay like that tonight. She didn't need more people inside her head, no more ghosts in her mind that made her second guess the person she really was…

But trying to brush away any thought that wasn't specifically about fighting tactics or Danger Room exercises, she took a deep breath and jumped out too.

And there she was now, in the middle of a soon to be battle field, that usually was just the huge backyard of a very fancy house. Walking behind her team mates, Rogue kept piercing the darkness with her eyes, trying to guess where the danger would come from. But somebody else did it first:

"Hey, Maximoff" Cyclops spoke: "Don't you know you're trespassing?"

Quicksilver emerged from the shadows, soon followed by Blob, Toad, Lance and Pyro:

"Hey, Summers: don't you know you're an idiot?" Pietro shot back, but before any more greetings could be accomplished, the ground under everyone's feet started to shake and tremble, as a large crack began to spread on the ground, separating the two bands apart.

"Yo, good one, Avalanche!" Toad laughed queasily, clapping and jumping up and down like the maniac he is.

"I've just had enough of these punks" Wolverine growled: "Come on!"

As everybody either jumped across the crack, teleported to the other side or telekinetically flew over it, nobody noticed that the Canadian was the only one that didn't do it, staying glued to the ground for a couple of seconds, sniffing, frowning, glaring around. Nobody noticed it, except Rogue:

"What is it? Logan?"

He didn't answer a word; all he did was making his way over the crack on the ground and running towards the house, away from the place the fight was really starting to develop.

The Wolverine avoiding a good fight? That was more than odd, and there could only be one possible explanation for it: he'd just found an even better fight.

As he walked among the trees that lined the house by its right side, the blasts and noises kept bugging his superior sense of hearing, but that didn't keep him from sensing something else was fishy around here. Someone who wasn't invited to their little get-together there, was now trying to sneak out.

_Sniff, sniff._

He could smell him.

Turning abruptly to his left, he saw nothing but trees, darkness and empty space, but when he turned back, he saw this person suddenly jumping off a tree, landing on his feet and raising both of his hands in surrender:

"I give up, _mon ami_."

No one would need enhanced senses to recognize the mocking tone in this guy's voice, the way a smirk was about to show up in his face at any second, or how his red on black eyes were so far away from being the eyes of a man who surrenders.

"Sure you do, buster."

Now the smirk did make its appearance.

With a fast movement of his hand, the guy took hold of a couple of poker cards and threw them at Logan, who managed to evade the objects before they exploded:

"Whatcha gonna do now? Attack me with your dominos?"

"_Non_" he replied, and before Logan could do anything about it, this guy hit him in the face with some kind of large stick, then made it swing and rest by his arm: "Was thinkin' more of dis."

Wolverine groaned angrily, sort of adjusting his head to its right position:

"Now I'm mad."

The other guy attacked him with the staff again, but Logan quickly cut it in several pieces. Then, he pulled him by the collar of his trench coat and put a whole set of three very sharp claws to his throat:

"All right, Cajun: you're gonna tell me who you are and what you're doing here, if you wanna stay in one piece, got it?"

The referred Cajun swallowed hard, but didn't seem to be scared at all.

"Got it,_ homme_. Question is…" he raised a hand and gripped one of the claws with a hand: "who gonna be de one t' break t' pieces?"

"What the…?!"

Logan had taken a lot of pain in his life and of course he always recovered from it; but that didn't make the pain less… well, painful. He saw his claws acquiring this gleaming purple coloration, and then he felt this wave of pain travelling from his knuckles to his wrist, from his arm to his shoulder and then to the rest of his body, in spite of which, the last thing he would have done was releasing that crook, who was staring at him almost with amusement.

He had to do something and he had to do it fast… but all of a sudden, the pain stepped back, the red on black eyed guy winced and fell on the ground flat on his face.

"Ah should have known." Logan saw Rogue standing there, her right bare hand still suspended in the air: "Yah 'kay?"

"I'm fine" he took a last look at his claws before retracting them: "You?" Rogue just nodded, her eyes low as she put the glove back on: "Hey, you sure?" he insisted.

"Yeah, ah'm… ah'll be fine."

He stared at her for a moment, but then switched his attention to the man lying on the lawn: "So, what does Gumbo here have to do with the Brotherhood there?"

Rogue searched inside her head. Many thoughts and images she couldn't recognize started to appear; it was like doing zapping, just not in the TV but inside her mind.

"Nothin'" she finally said.

"Nothing?"

"Nah. He… took advantage of the confusion an' broke into the house to steal... this." Kneeling by his side, she slid a hand in one of his coat's pockets and took out a necklace with gems of ridiculous dimensions.

"Great" Logan snorted: "Can't believe I wasted my time with this pickpocket. Come on, let's go."

Rogue dropped the necklace to the ground, next to the man that laid there; then, took a last look at the back of his head, and followed Logan.

(…)

_She was holding the mug with both of her hands, taking a small sip of hot chocolate and narrowing her eyes at the Cajun sitting at the other side of the table:_

_"De look on de man's face, _chere_: just priceless" he continued chuckling, and drank some more… whatever thing he was drinking._

_"Really? Yah coulda…"_

_"Killed 'im?" Remy questioned, raising a brow. _

_This reminded Rogue of a game some of the kids (including her) used to play some time ago: by turns, each person had to come up with an idea of a way Wolverine could die. If you spent more than 5 seconds thinking about it when your turn came, you were out of the game. Needless to say that, in the game, the man got his head cut off, drowned, sliced and diced, and chewed, swallowed and digested by alligators, anacondas and piranhas. There were always these endless discussions about if he could actually die this or that way, or if he'd just manage to heal somehow. _

_"Ah don't know" she finally recognized, placing the mug back on the table: "But ah swear ah'd never seen 'im so freaked out."_

_"Ha, see?" _

_In spite of herself, she couldn't help to laugh along with him._

_"Hey, you two," a gruff voice called their attention: "I don't find that particularly funny." Logan was standing there, holding a tray with food with both of his hands._

_"Nah, ah know! Me neither" Rogue hurried to say. _

_"At all" Remy shook his head, taking another sip. _

_"It's really…"_

_"Shameful."_

_"Yeah," she turned her eyes back to Gambit, in an attempt not to laugh again at the sight of Logan's upset frame: "Shameful, that someone could ever do somethin' like that."_

_The Canadian glared at them sceptically and then left with his meal, not before murmuring:_

_"Cornpones."_

_She followed him with her eyes until he sat on a nearby table, next to Storm and Professor Xavier. Kitty and Colossus were acting way too friendly in another table: she was giggling out of control and giving him ice cream with a spoon. Anyway, Rogue continued: _

_"Nah, really, Remy: what were yah thinkin'? Please, enlighten me. If he exploded in pieces, yah were goin' down too."_

_She saw him manoeuvring a wooden toothpick in between his fingers, and staring at it almost with interest. Next, it started to gleam: _

_"See, _cherie,_ I'm a man of chances; I take 'em…" with a _puff,_ the toothpick blew up in a little explosion: "…an' den I deal with 'em."_

_The tiny bunch of ashes that fell on the table gave off a ribbon of grey smoke that ascended slowly, like a bonfire that was just put out. Then, there was no more smoke. _

_"Yah're not a man;" she found rather funny the perplexed look in his face when she said this, but truth be told, she wasn't joking this time: "Yah're just a ghost trapped inside mah head. Nothin's for real" she took another sip of her chocolate, watching the dawn out the window._

_"Well," Remy slid his hand on the table until he reached her gloved one: "Dis do feel real t' me." _

_Before that strange feeling that took over her for a moment got any stronger, she pulled back her hand: _

_"But it ain't. An' don't do that." _

_"Do what?" he asked innocently._

_"Don't yah dare to try an' flirt with me, Cajun; ah know all your tricks. Yah're in here, remember?" she said, tapping a finger in one of her temples._

_"Don't think so; Remy still got a few more cards under 'is sleeve_._" He knew she turned back to the window just to hide the smile that for a moment seemed to be about to appear. But it didn't; you can't smile when you're biting your lower lip. "So, dat how it works?" he continued. _

_"What?"_

_"Y'… absorb people an' their thoughts become yours? Is it like dat?"_

_None of her residents had ever asked her that. At the beginning, some of them were upset to suddenly be stuck without their permission in this sort of alternate reality, but as time went by, they were happy with just hanging out and wandering around. _

_"Not exactly, ah mean…" it wasn't something easy to talk about: "The Professor has been teachin' me to push the psyques to the back of my mind. They seem to appear only in here, when I'm sleepin', but ah don't know anything about them, ah don't remember any of this when ah'm awake. It's like… a movie yah saw years ago; it's somewhere in your mind, but yah don't remember the details or the characters, or the story…"_

_"But if y' happen to catch de movie on TV, y'd recognize it?"_

_"Ah don't know" she shrugged, "Why?"_

_"'Cause accordin' to dis y' sayin', we don't really know each other out dere_, non_?"_

_"Nope; ah didn't even see your face, yah didn't see mine. Guess ah caught yah outta guard." _

_"Remy's never outta guard, chere," he rectified: "Just wanted to give y' a little lead." _

_"Really? 'Cause ah could notice yah didn't even know what hit yah… hey, where did Logan go?"_

_"Dunno, he was right dere."_

_Storm and Xavier were still at__ the table, but Logan's spot was empty. _

_"Yeah, well… ah guess ah didn't see him when he left."_

_"Forget 'bout 'im; I got a little surprise for y'."_

_Rogue looked into his eyes for a few moments, feeling weird, yet feeling somehow happy that he was around:_

_"Why?" _

_"Why not?" he winked: "Just wait here, I'll be back in a sec."_

_He took the last sip of his drink and stood up to leave, but she made him stop in his tracks:_

_"But ah think ah'll be awake when yah get back."_

_They stared at each other for what seemed to be an eternity:_

_"Den I guess we'll always have t'morrow night" he stated, and then, coming a little closer to her: "It'll be just a moment _cherie_, wait for me, _oui_?"_

_She finally nodded and then saw him going out the Café's door._

_Her hot chocolate was over. On the other side of the window, it began to snow lightly. _

Note: Yes, I watched the Wolverine movie, and yes! I had to bring something of it to Gambit and Logan's fight there. It was fun to write, as well as this whole chap. As you can see, Pyro is member of the Brotherhood, and nobody around here knows Remy. Another thing: the line "But I'll be awake when you get back" is from the movie "The science of sleep", as I said in chap 1. I'm not sure if it's literally like that, but that's what it says.

Also, please remember I'm still learning English, so I tried my best but there might be mistakes. I'll gladly receive any corrections.

Thanks so much to those who reviewed and read chap 1, and please… please? Drop me a line, a word, anything! I wanna know what you guys thought of this. Thanks again and onto next time!


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